The Benefits Of Humor

Have you ever wondered what the benefits of humor can be? When we are in a good mood, doubts seem to vanish and the storms of our mind seem to subside. The smile is a mysterious gift of nature that everyone has from birth. Paradoxically, although we are born crying, we belong to the homo ridens species .

Humor has been discussed since the dawn of time and it is a theme that embraces many areas. It is closely related to the anthropological origins of the human being and its various manifestations. It is present in literature, cinema, comics, jokes, cartoons, magic, etc … To put it in the words of the psychologist Rojas Marcos (1998), the only condition to laugh out loud is to be free from pain and from sadness and enjoy a pleasant mood. The smile is like the purr of cats: it occurs only when we are happy.

So let’s see all the benefits of humor in this article.

Humor and science

With the development of the human sciences, scientific research on humor has also developed. Freud himself devoted a few pages of his work The Wit and its Relation to the Unconscious to this topic .

However, it was only about thirty years ago that psychologists began studying humor, including it among human behaviors. Until then, humor had been considered less important in comparison to other themes of social and clinical psychology.

On the other hand, it seems appropriate to underline that the studies and research works concerning humor have multiplied nowadays. There are even specialized magazines such as Humor: International Journal . What is the cause of this “boom” in scientific research on humor? The answer is clear: humor heals, heals and engages us.

“Blessed are those who know how to laugh at themselves, because they will never lack a reason to smile”.
-Anonymous-

What is humor?

The nature of humor is free, unpredictable and surprising. According to Angel Rodriguez Idigoras, to enclose it in a few words would be an atrocity and a contradiction. Playwright Jardel Ponciela said that defining humor is like trying to cross the wings of a butterfly with a telephone pole.

So what is humor? According to Mingote, humor is not being afraid to think. Therefore, it doesn’t have to lead to laughter, much less a smile. The job of humor is simply to show us that things can be looked at from a very different point of view than we are used to. It separates us from our habit by acting as a guide on a journey to places that we would never have considered.

The benefits of humor for the mind

Humor is an intellectual activity. Its malfunction can contribute to altering people’s mental health. However, good humor management can be invaluable in preventing and treating some mental disorders. Let’s see below what are the benefits that our mind can derive from seeing the funny side of things:

Teach you to be less arrogant

And therefore, more humble. It is that, as Jaume Perich said in one of his jokes, if we compared the immensity of the sea and man, man would certainly lose. With this sentence the author wanted to emphasize the insignificance of the human species which, however, believes itself to be smart.

When we use humor, we get rid of arrogance. We make visible those defects that we normally try to hide. In short, we show ourselves less arrogant and more humble.

Helps find solutions to the problems of everyday life

Another of the many benefits of humor is the ability to find unexpected ways out even when we are faced with a dead end. To use humor, you need a bit of wit, wit and spontaneity.

Therefore, humor can help us solve problems. Thanks to it, we can find ways that otherwise would never have occurred to us. Furthermore, when we are in a good mood we see everything in color, with a renewed optimism.

Helps adapt to changes

Any new situation can be interpreted by our brain as a threat. Through humor, unpleasant ideas can be expressed for the listener to accept without feeling offended. It can help us introduce other people to realities that they are not yet aware of or cannot admit to.

It has been like this since ancient times; as we know, in the ancient royal courts the only ones who could criticize the king were the court jesters. Covered in their role as comic entertainers, they could afford to disagree with the laws of the royal palace.

Those listed are just some of the benefits of humor. Clearly there are many others. Therefore, we leave it to you to discover them by making good use of this precious quality.